Medical workers warn peak season of chickenpox

Wednesday, March 07, 2018 10:46

Medical workers have warned peak season of chickenpox as the weather changed.

Since the beginning of the year, many infirmaries in the North Vietnam have admitted many patients with chickenpox. Not only children but also adults suffered the ailment resulting in pneumonia and encephalitis and high risk of death.

The Contagious Department of Bach Mai Hospital in Hanoi has crowded with patients; many of them are chickenpox inpatients. Department head Dr. Do Duy Cuong said amongst critical cases in the department, a 27 year old patient from the northern province of Tuyen Quang with medical history of lupus ban had been treated in the hospital for days.

The patient was taken to the infirmary in early March while he was in high fever and small, itchy blisters.

However, after one-day treatment, his condition got worse. He was suffering breathing problem. Through tests, he got complication of serious pneumonia with limb gangrene.

At present, the patient receives intensive treatment and being put on ventilator yet he is in danger list.

As per the Department of Preventive Health, the country had nearly 40,000 cases of chickenpox in 2017, a year-on-year increase of 50 percent. From early 2018, only two months, the number of chickenpox patients was on upward trend with 3,000 infection cases a month.

A representative of Bach Mai hospital said that in three months, hundreds of chickenpox adults were hospitalized with tens of them suffering complications easily leading to deaths.

Worse, medical workers warned humid weather in the North is conducive to outbreaks of the illness caused by Varicella-zoster virus (VZV) causing chickenpox in kids and herpes zoster (shingles) in adults.

After a prodromal illness of pain and paresthesias, erythematous macules and papules develop and progress to vesicles within 24 hour. Varicella-zoster virus is transmitted from person to person, primarily via the respiratory route by inhalation of aerosols from vesicular fluid of skin lesions of varicella or herpes zoster; it can also spread by direct contact with the vesicular fluid of skin lesions and possibly infected respiratory tract secretions.

The Ministry of Health warned vaccination is the simplest and effective way. Women should inject vaccine before getting pregnant. Kids aged one to twelve need one shoot of vaccine against chickenpox while adults from 13 years old up need two shoots each six week apart.